Now reading... Kurt Vonnegut - previously unreleased

I found a 'new' collection of short stories by my favourite non-SF writer Kurt Vonnegut. It's called 'Look at the Birdie' and it contains a number of short stories from his early writing years. None of the stories were previously published. Which makes me wonder which publishers were asleep at the while at the time.
Some stories are better than others. Recommended; 'The King and Queen of the Universe'.

This is Humanism at it's finest.

Power is not a means, it's an end.

Why I sympathize with Wikileaks?
                    
              
  

"In accordance to the principles of Doublethink, it does not matter if the war is not real, or when it is, that victory is not possible. The war is not meant to be won. It is meant to be continuous. The essential act of modern warfare is the destruction of the produce of human labor. A hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. In principle, the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects. And its object is not victory over Eurasia or Eastasia, but to keep the very structure of society intact. Julia? Are you awake? There is truth, and there is untruth. To be in a minority of one doesn't make you mad."

"The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power."

Because I'm slightly paranoid, that's why I sympathize with Wikileaks...

What I Am Reading Now - The Hotel New Hampshire

The Hotel New Hampshire is probably Irving's best novel to date, although "The World According To Garp" was a masterpiece too and "A Prayer For Owen Meanie" still reverberates in my mind. The Hotel New Hampshire though, is absolutely the most emotionally gripping novel by Irving that I have read.

The story is way too complicated to explain here so let me just make a few observations. You can read the whole(very accurate) wiki-entry by clicking on the link above.

The book contains all the basic elements of a true John Irving story; bears, wrestling, death, incest, you name it, it's in there. It tells the story of the Berry-family(mother, father and five children) from the moment the parents meet each other until the father's death and everything in between.

The parents run a hotel, first in the U.S.A. but later on in Vienna(Austria). They have to deal with bears(and 'State O' Maine' is not the only one), with prostitutes, with left-wing terrorist bombers, and so on. And that is really just a small part of what the book is about, the mis-en-scene. Irving never loses sight of what I think the book is about; the impact of these circumstances on the Berry family.

As far as I can see the story Irving wrote tells the path from being pretty much a dysfunctional family - or at least a super weird one - to coming to terms with each other and accepting each other for what they are. One brother is in love with his sister, another one is gay, one of the sisters doesn't grow and is basically a dwarf, etcetera.

The book was made into a movie that starred - among others - Jodie Foster and Rob Lowe. I saw it by chance, way back in the late 80ies or early 90ies, in the loft of a local cafe, because a movie had been cancelled and they had replaced it with this one. I still distinctly remember expecting nothing and consequently being extremely impressed with Rob Lowe. I knew that Jodie Foster was a brilliant actress but at the time Lowe was considered to be an actor for 'bubblegum-movies' like 'St. Elmo's Fire'. Yet here he was, convincingly playing a gay teenager coming to terms with himself as well as the people around him. Of course I was wrong about Lowe; he starred in many a good movie and I just loved his acting in The West Wing. Oh well, it's great to be wrong that way.


For me personally, after all the books I have read through the years, the words "Sorry, just not big enough" can still move me to tears as they have done many times in the past.

Read the book and judge for yourself. And Keep Passing The Open Windows.

What I am reading now.

Anthem was the sole inspiration of Neil Peart when he wrote the lyrics to Rush' 2112. It's quite an interesting read, somewhere in between George Lucas' THX-1138 and Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty-Four. Anthem was written well before Nineteen-Eighty-Four so no one can accuse Rand of copying the master.

Anthem is a novella, a short novel. As such it is remarkably well written. It does not have the 'John Galt'-bias that most of her later stories have.

You can download the novella for free from gutenberg (I'll write an entry about that website soon).

Books I Am Currently Reading

1. 
   Larry Niven : Rainbow Mars

Book(s) I am currently reading.

 

The discovery of football in Ankh-Morpork

(that is football as in SOCCER, you uncivilized americans!)

Reading : 'Anthem' by Ayn Rand

I'm currently reading 'Anthem' by Ayn Rand. 'Anthem' is a dystopian story set in a future in which all knowledge is privileged information and the search for new knowledge is suppressed in every way possible. All people are supposed to be created equal and no one is allowed to differ from the rest, or at least be in any way proud of being different.

To quote Ayn Rand :

"Our name is Equality 7-2521, as it is written on the iron bracelet which all men wear on their left wrists with their names upon it. We are twenty-one years old. We are six feet tall, and this is a burden, for there are not many men who are six feet tall. Ever have the Teachers and the Leaders pointed to us and frowned and said: "There is evil in your bones, Equality 7-2521, for your body has grown beyond the bodies of your brothers." But we cannot change our bones nor our body."

'Anthem' was the inspiration for Neil Peart when he wrote the lyrics to '2112' by RUSH. As a comparison here, first, are the liner notes from '2112' that set up the story perfectly :

"I lie awake, staring out at the bleakness of Megadon. City and sky become one, merging Into a single plane, a vast sea of unbroken grey. The Twin Moons, just two pale orbs as They trace their way across the steely sky. I used to think I had a pretty good life here, Just plugging into my machine for the day, then watching Templevision or reading a Temple Paper in the evening.

My friend Jon always said it was nicer here than under the atmospheric domes of the Outer Planets. We have had peace since 2062, when the surviving planets were banded together under The Red Star of the Solar Federation. The less fortunate gave us a few new moons...

I believed what I was told. I thought it was a good life, I thought I was happy. Then I found Something that changed it all..."

Ayn Rand again :

"We strive to be like all our brother men, for all men must be alike.
Over the portals of the Palace of the World Council, there are words cut in the marble, which we are required to repeat to ourselves whenever we are tempted:

     "We are one in all and all in one.
     There are no men but only the great WE,
     One, indivisible and forever."

As compared to Peart's lyrics :

"We are the priests of the Temple Of Syrinx
Our great computers fill the hallowed halls
We are the priests of the Temple Of Syrinxs
All the gifts of life are held within these walls"

Note the 'We' used in 'Anthem' in almost every sentence. There is no individuality in Anthem's world. No one is allowed to use 'I' anymore lest he or she become an individual.

Ayn Rand :

"We think that there are mysteries in the sky and under the water and in the plants which grow. But the Council of Scholars has said that there are no mysteries, and the Council of Scholars knows all things. And we learned much from our Teachers. We learned that the earth is flat and that the sun revolves around it, which causes the day and night. We learned the names of all the winds which blow over the seas and push the sails of our great ships. We learned how to bleed men to cure them of all ailments."

Compare Neil Peart :

"We've taken care of everything
The words you read, the songs you sing
The pictures that bring pleasure to the eyes
Oh what a nice contented world
Let the banners be unfurled
Hold the Red Star proudly high in hand"

I could analyze the complete novella(or '2112' for that matter) but that would spoil the fun of reading and listening to it yourself. Suffice it to say that Peart did an admirable job; he interpreted 'Anthem' quite loosely but at the same time stayed true to the deeper meaning of the story.

Reading 'Anthem while listening to '2112' is a very interesting experience, as long as you play the album LOUD!


TM.


References :

'Anthem' by Ayn Rand can be freely downloaded from Project Gutenberg :

Neil Peart's lyrics to '2112' can be found at LyricsFreak (I kid you not!)

Only for true fans

"The satirical newspaper The Onion contained a tribute to him soon after he died, with a reference to one of his works, stating that he shouldn't be referred to as dead "without checking Dresden for his younger self first"


I think it's time for 'Hocus Pocus' again soon.

How to fake your own book prizes

An interesting read about how the publishing industry uses fake awards(including the corresponding websites) to sell you their crap.

Vanity Book Awards

Best of all, as USABN's Web site freely promises, "the National Best Books Awards are the ONLY Awards Program in the nation that offers direct coverage to the book buying public for every entry." Like the Special Olympics, this is a competition that everybody wins. If you enter the 2010 contest by the end of this year, they'll even throw in a "six-month full-color listing on USABookNews.com," which is "valued at $1500.00!" despite the fact that none of the publishers whose books are listed there now seem to have paid for this service or even to be aware that it's been provided.

'The Story Of Ender' or how I got hooked on Orson

  A few days ago I purchased 'Ender in exile' by Orson Scott Card. This is the new book in the Ender-series and it tells the story of Ender Wiggin from the moment the war against the Formics(aka 'The Buggers') is over until the time that starts with the second book 'Speaker for the Dead'. The persona of Ender is still fascinating and I must say that hardly ever have I read Science Fiction this well written.

There have been many SF-writers with brilliant ideas who could not write well. There have been many SF-writers who could write beautifully but got stuck at the same 'old' ideas. And there have been a number of SF-writers who avoided both traps. Examples of the latter category are for instance the legendary Theodore 'Ted' Sturgeon, Eric Frank Russel, Robert Sheckley, the almost forgotten Thomas Disch and most certainly not to be forgotten anytime soon : Larry Niven.

Orson Scott Card definitely belongs among these giants of Science Fiction. The prose is beautiful, the story - actually all the story lines - are compelling, and there does not seem to be an end to his original ideas.

To get an idea of the structure of the novels you can read this. Card is fleshing out the story more and more, and does so without reverting to cheap tactics to keep the sales up. Everyone who knows his work, knows that Card does not compromise much, if at all. Just when we(the readers) had gotten used to the recurring theme/persona of Ender, Card comes up with a parallell storyline about Bean, his number one during the war. And the story of Bean(as told in several books in the series) is at least as moving as the story of Ender, albeit for different reasons.

The first book 'Ender's Game' is about to be turned into a movie. On the one hand I'm quite confident it will be a good movie because Orson Scott Card has singlehandedly written the script and he is an experienced script-/scenario-/play-wright. On the other hand I do hope that the commercial assholes that run around in every movie-company stay away. The book(s) have been bestsellers so one can say that Card is 'commercial' enough all by himself.

Anyway, I've almost finished 'Ender in exile' and I will be truly sorry when I've read it.

I want more Mr. Card! Come on! You can do at least three of four more books! You can do a book or two about Dink Meeker, about Petra Arkanian(!), and not to forget : you never did actually show us what was written in 'The Hive Queen' or 'The Hegemon'.

Even I could come up with the background story. Shame that I cannot write SF at any proper level.

Guess I'll just have to wait for the Grand Old Man himself to come up with the next treat.

Recommended reading in Science Fiction Land

Although it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to pick my favourite Science Fiction books and stories I'm still going to have a go at it. This is by no means a complete list and I have probably forgotten dozens of brilliant stories. Rest assured though : in my opinion these are all landmark books and novellas.

This list is in random order.

Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle - The Mote In God's Eye.

Not to put down Gene 'The Great Bird Of The Galaxy' Roddenberry, but this book is what StarTrek The Original Series would have been if it would have been written by a seasoned science fiction writer. The scope is magnificent, this is absolutely a classic 'Space Opera', written at a time when everybody in SF-land claimed that the time for such books had come and gone. You might think of it in the same way that people tend to think about Albert Einstein and J.S Bach : The Last Of The Great Classics. Of course I'm not a writer but having said that : as an avid SF-reader I would not know how to improve this book.

Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game / Speaker For The Dead.

In a nutshell : Aliens called 'The Buggers'(because they look somewhat like insects) have tried to invade Earth 80 years ago, but were defeated by an absolutely ruthless and brilliant Israeli commander called Mazer Rackham. People and especially the leaders on Earth know however, that the aliens will very likely come back when there is the least distance between the planets again(in about 80 years). They are therefore frantically and desperately searching for a new 'Mazer Rackham' to lead them to victory, or at least to a stalemate. As a result they pick the best and the brightest of their children at an extremely young age, and put them through intensive training to see if the Great Leader will stand up. The book is mostly set on a space station orbiting Earth, that has been designed solely as a training facility. It follows a score of these young and brilliant military minds from the age of five onward.

The catch is : they cannot just pick one and give him orders, as this would destroy the personal initiative of this new military genius and render him or her useless for any great battle.

If you haven't read this book please do: I could tell you what it's about in great further detail but my words would be no match for the book itself. It is by far the best book I have ever read with a young male boy as the leading character. Ender Wiggin is one of those protagonists you immediately start to like and love. Orson Scott Card is well known nowadays for his character development and this was an absolute highlight in his career.

Four books were released in the 'Ender'-series but the first two are the most intense and up-front personal.

Ender's Game is one of those very few books that left me quite emotional. Wich is a true exception in Science Fiction as far as I'm concerned.


The(first) sequel 'Speaker For The Dead' is so ingeniously put together that it basically has hardly any relationship with the first book except for Ender and his sister. The story is set 3.000 year onward and deals with the fear of humanity of ever confronting a new alien race. When Humanity finally encounter an underdeveloped but promising intelligent race that they call 'The Piggies', they are overly cautious and turn the whole planet into a quarantined zone where only a few people are allowed to live and study.

And then something goes wrong...

Kurt Vonnegut - Galapagos

I must by now surely have bored people to tears with my praise for Kurt Vonnegut's work.

Originally a writer of SF('The Players of Titan' comes to mind) Vonnegut quite quickly move out of the SF-field because as he said 'he did not want to get stuck in the ghetto that was SF'. Ironically enough, there is a lot of SF in the books he wrote after that period.

Galapagos is one of his last complete novels and describes the wholly unlikely survival of the human race on the Galapagos Islands. The main characters are all flawed. There is a con man trying to trick a widow out of her inheritance, a captain who really doesn't know how the ship works because he has personnell who do, there are a few native girls who get stranded on the ship(which in the end is itself stranded on one of the remote Galapagos Islands), etcetera etcetara.

Kurt Vonnegut is the only writer I have ever read who could write almost in baby talk and still be completely 'gripping'. The older he got the better I like his work.

The man passed away not too long ago. May he rest in peace. I honestly do miss waiting for the new Vonnegut to come out.


To be continued...